Kane, also known as The Big Red Machine/Monster, is one of the most imposing figures in professional wrestling. Born Glen Jacobs in April 1967, his career is marked by a morbid and captivating storyline filled with fire, disfigurement, and destruction. As the demented half-brother of The Undertaker, Kane's persona, often concealed behind a mask, has become iconic. His signature chokeslam is no joke, and his impressive WWE run includes numerous titles and memorable feuds.
Early Life and Education
Born in Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain, Jacobs began his wrestling career in 1992 working in independent circuits. In April of 1968, Kane was born Glen Jacobs into an Air Force family stationed in Madrid, Spain. Jacobs holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University), as well as a teaching degree. He filled in as a substitute teacher in the St.
Early Career (1992-1997)
Jacobs began his wrestling career in 1992, first stepping into the ring as Angus King. In the ring, Jacobs was first known as Angus King when he debuted in the St. Louis, Missouri area with the CSWA which was owned and run by Jacobs’ childhood friend Mark Morton. Jacobs later moved south and began wrestling as Doomsday, appearing in the United States Wrestling Association as The Christmas Creature and as Unabomb in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he held the SMW Tag Team Championship with Al Snow in a team called The Dynamic Duo.
During his time in the United States Wrestling Association, Jacobs (as Doomsday) held the USWA Heavyweight Championship. He wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling as Unabomb were he won the SMW Tag Team Championship as a member of The Dynamic Duo, and in the United States Wrestling Association where he won the USWA Heavyweight Championship as Doomsday.
Various Gimmicks in WWE
Jacobs debuted with WWE as the Black Knight, as part of 1993's Survivor Series. The annual pay-per-view event takes place in November and focuses on tag team matches. His next WWE appearance came a couple years later.
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Jacobs made his first television appearance with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS, Jerry Lawler’s private dentist, in a vignette on the June 26, 1995, episode of Raw. Placing emphasis on Jacobs’ imposing height and weight, Yankem was portrayed as a monstrous figure whom Lawler had hired for the purpose of ridding the WWF of his longtime nemesis, Bret Hart.
His in-ring debut occurred at a Superstars taping on August 15, where he lost to Hart by countout. At SummerSlam, Jacobs was disqualified when he hung Hart by twisting him in the top and middle ropes by his neck. He lost to Hart in a steel cage match in the main event of the October 16 episode of Raw, and finally in a tag team match against Hart and Hakushi, in which he was partnered with Lawler, on the November 6 episode of the show.
After his initial run with Hart, Jacobs’ push dwindled. His team was unsuccessful in an elimination match at Survivor Series. He participated in the 1996 Royal Rumble match, but spent the majority of the year as a jobber to the stars, including televised losses to The Undertaker, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Marc Mero and The Ultimate Warrior.
Later that month, play-by-play announcer Jim Ross introduced Rick Bognar as “Razor Ramon” and Jacobs as “Diesel” as part of a storyline mocking the departure of former employees Scott Hall and Kevin Nash respectively, while attempting to portray Ross as a disgruntled employee. The idea proved unpopular and was dropped almost immediately, and despite receiving a WWF Tag Team Championship match against Owen Hart and The British Bulldog at In Your House 12: It’s Time, the gimmick’s television lifespan lasted only until the 1997 Royal Rumble, where Jacobs was the second-to-last participant (with the exception of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was previously eliminated by Bret Hart but the officials did not witness the elimination, so he re-entered the ring).
The Yankem character was mentioned twice after Jacobs was established as Kane: once in a 2004 episode of Raw when Eugenementioned him as one of his favorite wrestlers, and on one of the last episodes of WWE Heat in 2008 when Josh Matthews and Todd Grisham mentioned on commentary during a match between Snitsky and Val Venis that Yankem would match up well against Snitsky (this coming over three years after Snitsky’s fued with Kane), with Grisham unintentionally breaking kayfabe by mentioning how much Kane and Yankem looked alike and might be brothers, outing Jacobs as having played both.
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The Debut of Kane (1997)
Jacobs showed up again in WWE in 1997, this time as Kane (also known as The Big Red Machine/Monster), The Undertaker's younger half-brother, who he thought died in the fire that killed The Undertaker's parents. At April 1997’s In Your House 14: Revenge of the ‘Taker event, The Undertaker launched a fireball into the face of former manager, Paul Bearer, who had unsuccessfully attempted to assist his protege, Mankind to victory in their WWF Championship match. On the May 12 episode of Raw, Foley reintroduced Bearer, whose face was heavily bandaged due to the burns The Undertaker had inflicted. Prompted by the injury, Bearer attempted to reunite with The Undertaker after a long period of mutual hostility, using the threat of revealing The Undertaker’s “biggest secret”; during the cryptic interview, Bearer likened the fire that had burned his face at Revenge of the ‘Taker to a fire that had occurred during The Undertaker’s childhood.
Jacobs made his first appearance as Kane at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, 1997, by using Taker’s Tombstone Piledrivercosting The Undertaker the victory in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels. In keeping with the notion that Kane had been scarred by the fire - and to conceal Jacobs’ identity - the character wore a mask, sported long hair, and wore red and black ring attire that almost covered his entire body.
Feud with The Undertaker (1997-1998)
Kane and The Undertaker feuded with one over another the following year, during which time their history vis-à-vis one another was expounded. Jacobs won his first match as Kane against Mankind at Survivor Series. In weeks prior on Raw, Kane had randomly attacked other wrestlers including Ahmed Johnson, Road Warrior Hawk, the Hardy Boyz, Flash Funk, and Cactus Jack/Mankind’s alter ego, Dude Love.
The Undertaker initially refused to face him, saying he would not fight his own “flesh and blood”. After a brief partnership, Kane betrayed his brother when he cost him the WWF Championship; he made an interference in The Undertaker’s WWF Championship title match with Shawn Michaels at the Royal Rumble. After the match, Kane locked The Undertaker in a casket and set it on fire, though it was later revealed that Undertaker managed to escape the casket without being seen before Kane set it on fire.
This provoked The Undertaker into returning to face Kane at WrestleMania on March 29. Kane was defeated by The Undertaker after three Tombstone Piledrivers. After the match Kane and Paul Bearer attacked The Undertaker. They continued to feud until Unforgiven on April 26, when The Undertaker defeated Kane in an Inferno match. On May 19, Bearer was revealed to be an employee at the funeral home in Death Valley owned by The Undertaker’s parents.
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When Kane and The Undertaker were children, claimed Bearer, The Undertaker burned down the funeral home, killing their parents and leaving Kane with physical and mental scarring, although The Undertaker thought that Kane had perished in the fire also. During an episode ofRaw taped in Long Island, Kane and Bearer ostensibly exhumed the parents’ bodies and brought them to the arena.
Bearer, who survived the fire, hid Kane in a mental asylum as he grew up and formed an alliance with The Undertaker before later betraying him atSummer Slam ’96. After suffering mistreatment at the hands of Undertaker, who had been vindictive and embittered with Bearer ever since Summer Slam, Bearer opted to bring Kane into the WWF in order to gain his own vengeance upon The Undertaker.
Kane is portrayed as being psychotic, demented, extremely violent, twisted, disturbed, unstoppable, isolated and at peace with insanity. After defeating The Undertaker to win a WWF Championship title shot, Kane won the WWF Championship at the King of the Ringtournament, defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin in a First Blood match after being helped by his brother. However, Kane lost the title back to Austin the next night on Raw.
Tag Team with Mankind and The Brothers of Destruction (1998-2001)
He formed a tag team with Mankind, with whom he won the WWF World Tag Team Championship twice. After losing the titles and turning on Mankind, Kane formed a short-lived tag team with his brother. The brothers fought one another for the vacant WWF Championship at Judgment Day: In Your House, with the match ending in a no-contest. During the match, The Undertaker betrayed Kane for Paul Bearer turning Kane face and Undertaker heel.
Kane took part in the “Deadly Games” tournament for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series but was eliminated by The Undertaker in the quarter-finals. AtRock Bottom: In Your House, Kane interfered in the Buried Alive match between Austin and The Undertaker by giving The Undertaker a Tombstone Piledriver. However, in December 21, 1998, Kane joined The Corporation thus turning heel to stay out of the insane asylum. He was later betrayed by The Corporation and thrown out of the alliance thus turning face again.
Shortly afterward, Kane formed a tag team with X-Pac and acquired a girlfriend, Tori. While teaming with X-Pac, Kane evolved from being mute to aided speech through an electrolarynx to speaking unaided. He also became associated with D-Generation X, the faction of which X-Pac was a member. His first unaided words were the DX slogan “suck it”. The duo won the WWF World Tag Team title twice. The tag team broke apart when X-Pac turned on Kane and rejoined D-Generation X.
Kane and X-Pac then were engaged in a lengthy feud against each other. Late in their feud, in early 2000, Tori betrayed Kane and joined X-Pac and D-Generation X, and the former partners’ feud eventually ended at WrestleMania 2000, where Kane teamed with Rikishi to face X-Pac and Road Dogg. When he returned, it was to help The Undertaker and The Rock fight off the McMahon-Helmsley Faction.
His involvement in this feud culminated in a main event match at King of the Ring against Vince and Shane McMahon, and then-champion Triple H. The Undertaker and Kane’s rivalry resurfaced during the match, but they patched their relationship up soon after. Kane assaulted the Undertaker, leading to a match between the two at SummerSlam. Kane turned face when he reformed his alliance with The Undertaker immediately before the Royal Rumble, in which he eliminated a record number of 11 wrestlers which included Raven, Al Snow, Perry Saturn, Steve Blackman, Grand Master Sexay, The Honky Tonk Man, The Rock, Tazz, Albert, Crash Holly, and Scotty 2 Hotty, and was the runner-up, after being eliminated by Steve Austin.
In early 2001, Kane competed for the Hardcore Championship, defeating Raven for the title at WrestleMania X-Seven in a match that also featured Big Show. Kane and The Undertaker began teaming as the “Brothers of Destruction” and had lengthy feuds. In the course of the year, they feuded with Edge and Christian, Rikishi and Haku, and The Two-Man Power Trip. While feuding with The Two-Man Power Trip, Austin and Triple H broke Kane’s left arm.
At Judgment Day, Kane defeated Triple H to win the Intercontinental Championship. He became the third Grand Slam Champion, and the first person to win the Grand Slam championship by winning the WWF, Intercontinental, Tag Team and Hardcore Championships. During The Invasion, Kane and The Undertaker feuded with DDP and Chris Kanyon after Page began stalking The Undertaker’s wife Sara.
Singles Success and Tag Team Dominance (2002-2003)
In 2002, Kane began a small feud with Big Show, after Kane single handedly eliminated him at the Royal Rumble. On the January 28 episode of Raw, Kane displayed his true power by scoop-slamming and chokeslamming the 500-pound Big Show, who he defeated that night. Kane then began feuding with Kurt Angle, to whom he lost at WrestleMania X8. On March 25, the WWF was divided into two brands, Raw and SmackDown!, with Kane being drafted to Raw.
Kane feuded with the New World Order until tearing his biceps. In 2002, Kane won the World Tag Team Championship with The Hurricane on the September 23 episode of Raw from Lance Storm and Christian. On October 7, Kane successfully single-handedly defended the World Tag Team Championship in a four-team Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, as The Hurricane had been attacked earlier that evening by Triple H and Ric Flair and was thus unable to compete. That match was later nominated WWE 2002 “Match of the Year”.
In October 2002, Kane began feuding with Triple H, leading to a match at No Mercy on October 20 in which both Kane’s Intercontinental Championship and Triple H’s World Heavyweight Championship were at stake. In the weeks preceding the match, Triple H claimed that, several years earlier, Kane had anunrequited relationship with a woman named Katie Vick. He claimed that after Vick was killed in a car crash, Kane’s (driver) had sex with her. Triple H later threatened to show video footage of Kane committing the act in question; however, the footage that finally aired showed Triple H (dressed as Kane) simulating mock sex with a mannequin in a casket; Kane’s tag team partner The Hurricane responded the following week by showing a video of Triple H (rather, someone wearing a Triple H series of masks) getting an enema. The angle was very unpopular with fans, and was de-emphasised before the title match.
Kane then formed a tag team with Rob Van Dam, with the duo eventually winning the World Tag Team Championship. After they lost their World Tag Team Championship to La Résistance at Bad Blood, Triple H offered Kane a spot in his stable Evolution. Raw co-general manager Stone Cold Steve Austin offered Kane the opportunity to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship if he rejected Triple H’s offer; however, co-general manager Eric Bischoff insisted that if Kane lost the match, he would unmask. Kane accepted Austin’s offer and went to challenge Triple H the following week in Madison Square Garden.
Triple H won the match following interference from his stablemates, and on the June 23, 2003 episode of Raw, Kane removed his mask. He then chokeslamed Rob Van Dam, (turning heel again). He defeated Van Dam at SummerSlam. In an interview with Jim Ross at Conseco Fieldhouse, it became apparent that Kane’s facial scars were actually mental scars. At the end of this interview, Kane, believing that he was being mocked, attacked Ross and set him on fire.
The unmasking rendered Kane emotionally unstable, on one occasion drove him to Tombstone Piledriver Linda McMahon on the Raw stage.
Later Career and Achievements
Kane has been a WWF/WWE fixture for almost two decades. In addition to numerous WWE televised events, Kane appeared in episodes of Smallville and The Weakest Link. Jacobs has accumulated 18 championship accolades during his WWE career. He is a former one-time WWF Champion, one-time ECW Champion and one-time World Heavyweight Champion (tied for fourth-longest reign in history, a record which also belongs to Chris Benoit).
He was the first masked wrestler to win the WWE championship and the first of only three men (including CM Punk and Big Show) to hold the WWE, World Heavyweight and ECW championships.. Jacobs is the third Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. In addition to championships, he is a Money in the Bank winner and holds the record for cashing in the briefcase in the shortest amount of time.
Kane’s career has been marked by some stellar and brutally woeful contests in the ring against some of the biggest names in WWE, including The Undertaker, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Edge and others. He has also pioneered some of the most vicious stipulations of all time, including First Blood, Inferno, Stretcher and even Till Death Do Us Part Matches.
Like his sibling, Kane wields a highly-decorated mantle of WWE glory, including reigns as WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion and ECW Champion. Jacobs is a three-time World Heavyweight Championship having won the WWF Championship once, the ECW Championship, and the World Heavyweight Championship once; making him the first person ever to hold all three WWE world titles. He is also a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWE Hardcore Champion, and a ten-time World Tag Team Champion; winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship once (with The Undertaker), the World Tag Team Champion nine time (twice with Mankind, X-Pac, and The Undertaker; and once with The Hurricane, Rob Van Dam, and The Big Show). Jacobs is the third Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. In addition to championships, he is a one-time Money in the Bank winner. He also became the quickest man to cash in the briefcase.
Personal Life and Political Career
Kane is married and has two daughters. Glen Jacobs is a Libertarian and has entertained the notion of running for public office. He supports Ron Paul, the former congressman from Texas who twice sought the Republican nomination for president. Jacobs occasionally blogs about politics at The Adventures of Citizen X.
Championships and Accomplishments
A summary of Kane's major championships and accomplishments:
| Championship | Times Won |
|---|---|
| WWF/WWE Championship | 1 |
| ECW Championship | 1 |
| World Heavyweight Championship | 1 |
| World Tag Team Championship | 9 |
| WCW World Tag Team Championship | 1 |
| WWE Intercontinental Championship | 2 |
| WWE Hardcore Championship | 1 |
| SMW Tag Team Championship | 1 |
| USWA Heavyweight Championship | 1 |
Kane is the second longest contracted wrestler in the WWE, but in terms of show to show appearances, Jacobs has had the longest active career in the WWE today.
Kane has been a WWF/WWE fixture for almost two decades.
Jacobs is seven feet tall and weighs 323 pounds.
Jacobs is considered by many to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.